I’ve been to the National Railway Museum in York twice, first on a school trip around 1977 and again in 2017. I’d never been to the other National Railway Museum site, Locomotion,in Shildon, County Durham though although I’d often thought about it. It’s not quite as easy to get to from here in the south as York but now seemed like as good a time as any so I booked a couple of nights midweek in a hotel in Darlington, which was the closest I could find a railway-convenient vacancy. Then bought a couple of train tickets, packed my bag, and crossed my fingers for a good trip.
Despite a delay between Reading and Paddington (when isn’t there? This time it was due to a vehicle striking a bridge) I easily made my connection to the LNER Azuma at Kings Cross and was whisked north. Such a long way north too although the limited number of stops helped make it feel less. Despite it being a busy train the seat next to mine remained empty and since I had showered that morning it must have been because strangely the reservation indicator showed “may be reserved later” although it never was.
Walking from the station to my hotel I thought “this is a bit bloody warm for t’North” and realised I’d managed to book my trip for a mini heatwave and in a hotel room without air conditioning 🙄 It was a bit of a sticky night even with the window open and a fan going. (The following day hit 25 C, I checked the weather at home, 31.5 C! Dodged that then.)
Of course the only sensible thing to do was go for a beer and marvel that a pint of Guinness only cost £3.55 in the centre of Darlington. In a real pub too, The Old English Gentleman, not sodding Wetherspoon’s. There was some football match going on so I don’t know if that affected the price but seriously compared to my area that’s a cheap pint 🙂
Not being any kind of football fan I went off in search of something I am a fan of, a curry. Cafe Spice, tucked away down a narrow passage called Clark’s Yard was midweek quiet and definitely provided the goods. Tasty chicken dansak, saag paneer, and mushroom pilau rice washed down with a couple of Cobras and quite wallet-friendly. Replete I returned to my hotel room and chilled out in front of the telly. Chilled isn’t the right word obviously given the overnight temperature remained stubbornly high.
The following morning after breakfast (and it would have been rude not to have had the full English included in the room rate) I walked to the railway station and got a return ticket to Shildon. I could equally have got a bus which would have taken about the same time overall but the train was actually cheaper with my railcard. Taking the train also led to a further adventure later which I probably wouldn’t have done had I been on the bus.
Northern Trains two coach Class 156 grumbled along the former Stockton and Darlington Railway and I alighted at Shildon Station, a short walk from the Locomotion museum site. A much shorter walk in fact than the route that google maps took me on but I didn’t discover that until later. It doesn’t seem to know about the path which links the station to the museum.
The museum now has two large buildings, or halls as they call them. The Main Hall contains the reception desk, cafe, shop, and the oldest exhibits and is passenger train focussed. Here is Locomotion No.1 the locomotive, Rocket, the Deltic, the prototype HST, and the APT amongst others. Here also is the children’s play area and the primary school parties to be navigated around and avoid when taking photos.
On the other side of the site is the New Hall. This is basically a big train shed and focuses on goods trains. It was somewhat quiete on my visit since the school groups weren’t in it. Large steam locomotive, very shiny Class 31 Diesel locomotive, cranes, shunters, and a variety of goods/freight rolling stock which are often overlooked for the more glamorous passenger services. There are clear information boards for the exhibits (as there are in the main hall) and I learned a good many things about railway goods services that I didn’t know before.
Outside between the two halls there are some sidings with more shunters and the replica Stephenson’s Rocket and here also is his iron Gaunless Bridge from 1823, the very first railway bridge to use an iron truss.
Away from the halls back towards Shildon Station (along the path google maps doesn’t admit to) and in the village are a number of historic buildings and structures which are also part of the wider Locomotion site. Shildon was the location of the Stockton & Darlington’s main engineering works making it the world’s first railway town and earning it the title of “The Cradle of the Railways”. The preserved buildings include a warehouse, a Sunday school, the goods shed, and a row of cottages including Soho House, built for Timothy Hackworth, steam locomotive engineer and the S&D’s first locomotive superintendent.
In the 20th century Shildon developed into the largest railway wagon works in the world employing around 2500 people and capable of building 1200-1500 new wagons a year and overhauling 20000. Despite a campaign to keep it open and find new orders it was closed down in 1984 by British Rail Engineering Ltd. and the Tory government resulting in most of the male workforce of Shildon losing their jobs and Shildon ceasing to be a “railway town”.
Is Locomotion worth travelling a long way to visit? Absolutely yes. Also entry is free, although they encourage donations (or just buy yourself something from the shop or cafe) and you don’t get better value than that. I took a lot of photos too.
I spent about 3 hours in Shildon and on the train back to Darlington wondered what else to do for the rest of the day, which was very hot and sunny. Then I realised that the train carried on all the way to Saltburn-by-the-Sea and I’d never been there either...
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